James Purdey & Sons Best-Grade Side-by-Side Shotgun

Founded nearly 200 years ago, James Purdey & Sons, Ltd. have
built a reputation as makers of some of the finest firearms in the
world. James Purdey was born in 1784 in London and later
apprenticed as a gunmaker under Thomas Hutchinson of
Whitechapel. After completing his apprenticeship in 1805, he
was employed by Joseph Manton, the best-known gunmaker in
England. Four years later, Purdey worked for Reverend Dr.
Alexander Forsyth, the Scottish clergyman, hunter, and inventor of
the pill lock ignition system.

In 1814, Purdey opened his own shop in London, where he produced
both longarms and pistols. He quickly established a
reputation as a maker of high quality arms, so much so that he
received orders from Queen Victoria and other members of European
royal households. In 1841, Purdey was elected to the
prestigious position of Master of the Worshipful Company of
Gunmakers of City of London, and in 1857, Edward, Prince of Wales,
granted Purdey a Royal Warrant of Appointment as a gunmaker.
Having reached the pinnacle of his career, the 73 year old Purdey
turned the company over to his 30 year old son, James. James
Purdey Sr. died in 1863.

The company continued to build its reputation under this new
Purdey management. In addition to his gunmaking talents,
James the Younger would prove to be a shrewd businessman who was
able to hire and keep some of the most talented craftsmen in
Britain. He was also an innovator. In 1870, Purdey
patented a simple thumb-operated mechanism that enabled shooters to
open their guns without changing their grip on the stock.
Although this system is now widely used, it was a milestone in an
era when the underlever action was a standard feature in many
breech-loading firearms.

In addition, Purdey was able to see merit in the work of others,
and before the decade was out, he took a license for a hammerless
self-opening action that had been developed by former employee
Frederick Beesley. These features, which assured the
company's fame and fortune, became standard in Purdey double guns
to the present day.

As the new century dawned, the torch was again passed to James
the Younger's son, Atholl. Like his father, Atholl had grown
up in the family business, and Atholl's son, Tom, would also take
his place as the latest of Purdey's Sons. The outbreak of war
in its centennial year nearly caused the collapse of the firm, as
orders for sporting arms became nearly non-existent. Atholl
was able to stave off bankruptcy by obtaining a contract to produce
muzzle protectors for British Army rifles, an essential item for
the infantryman's kit when fighting in the mud of France and
Belgium. Post-war orders from overseas shooters provided a
meager profitability for a time, but the return of war contributed
to a reverse in the firm's recovery.

Once again, defense contracts saw the company through, but the
immediate post-war years left Purdey in a dire financial
situation. After four generations, the venerable gunmaking
firm passed out of the hands of the Purdey family and was acquired
by Sir Hugh Seely, a wartime cabinet official.

Prior to the Second World War, Purdey's had been working to
develop an over-and-under shotgun in response to the increasing
popularity of this design in the United States. The firm's
present association with these arms would come about in 1948, when
James Purdey & Sons purchased James Woodward & Sons,
builders of perhaps the finest over-and-under shotguns
available. Improved Woodward actions are still featured on
Purdey over-and-under guns.

In 1949, Richard Beaumont began his career at James Purdey, and
his efforts over the next three decades would ultimately turn the
company back to profitability. At the start of Beaumont's
tenure, debts continued to mount, as did backlogs for orders.
The firm was taking up to five years to complete the manufacturing
process on some guns, and the price of the finished product was
nearly 70 percent below production costs, but by the mid-70s, this
situation had been brought under control through Beaumont's hard
work and leadership.

In 1994, James Purdey & Sons was acquired by Vendome Luxury
Group, the corporate parent of such well-known companies as Cartier
and Dunhill. Presently, Richard Purdey, great-great-great
grandson of the company's founder, has taken over from Richard
Beaumont as the firm's Chairman of the Board while Nigel Beaumont,
Richard's cousin, serves as Managing Director. The Purdey
offices at Audley House in London's fashionable Mayfair district
have been restored to their Edwardian elegance, and the firm
continues to manufacture fine sporting arms at its Hammersmith
facility outside London. Here, state-of-the-art computerized
machinery works alongside some of the world's finest craftsmen to
produce fewer than one hundred custom-built shotguns and rifles per
year, and future generations of craftsmen are trained through the
Purdey apprentice system.

Currently, new Purdeys sell for over 30,000 pounds Sterling and
take about eighteen months to complete. With over 12,000
post-1880 Purdeys still in existence, care and repair of vintage
models also constitutes an important part of the business. In
addition to longarms, the company has expanded its product line to
include quality clothing and shooting accessories.